Kegerator tower cooling

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kshuler

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I bought a kegerator off craigslist for $25 (no tower, but I already had one waiting for a refrig to become available, instead a commercial kegerator did!). I am waiting for some spare parts to arrive to fix it back up to its original condition, but was wondering what I could do about insulating and cooling the tower. I don't particularly want lots of condensation externally, so I was thinking of possibly insulating it fairly well. I ordered a blower assembly online with a hose to run to the top of the tower, but I was wondering what the best way to insulate the lines was. I saw the following diagram on micromatic' website, showing a tube within an insulated tube design that i think is meant to be used for long runs of beer line:
AirSaftFlow470.jpg


Would this be the best way to insulate it, or should I run a 1.5" copper pipe up the 3" wide tower and run all the lines and blower up that, then fill the space between the copper tube and the tower wall with great stuff foam insulation? I could also use great stuff foam to fill in the space between the beer line insulation and the tower wall if I built a system like the linked picture above, as well. The insulating foam that came with the tower is just SO WIMPY. Might as well not be there at all. Anyone ever tried blow in insulation on a tower before?

Any thoughts?

Klaus
 
Went to Lowes today to try to find something that would work well as a tower cooler. Ended up buying 5x 3" long 2" diameter copper pipe, sticking them together with metal duct tape, and covering them with insulating rubber tape so it will just barely fit into the tower. It gets about 1/4" of rubber insulation all the way around.

My theory was, I want a thermal mass that can stay cold longer, and then I will run the fan only when the compressor cycles. I am hoping that the copper will cool off and stay cold for a while (it will also extend slightly into the kegerator itself), but the insulation will stop heat from being transferred from the outside in. I also hope this will make it so the tower doesn't start condensing all the moisture in the room onto it and be constantly dripping wet.

When its all done I'll post a picture.

Klaus
 
Update:

this method of cooling the tower works VERY well. Even though the recirculation fan isn't running most of the time (it is switched along with the compressor via the Ranco controller), the copper pipe that is in there keeps very cold. The insulation around it prevents all condensation outside of the tower, and I have not had any issues with foaming at all.

Klaus
 
Here is the diagram of what I did. Works great. The upper part not in the diagram was filled partially with great stuff insulation just along the walls. It actually expanded quite a bit more than I was expecting and got in the way of the airflow and required trimming.

qmlmfj


The copper tube extends about 2" down into the kegerator, so it also get some cooling from that, as well.

Klaus
 
Klaus, (Irish I bet?), I like your thinking and cooling assembly.
On my tower I added a brass plate 6" x 1/4" x 10" long (a 16' slab fell off a delivery truck into the street a free find). American Iron & Brass wrote it off I called on my find told to keep it.
I hole sawed in the center then slipped over my 3 1/2" copper, soldered and secured up with 1/2" nylon spacers for airflow above the brass plate.
This added mass increased the cooling within the tower, yes my taps sweat
I have 68% to 80% average humidity.
I've played with both full time on muffin fans vs on with compressor
only, settled on the muffin fan that cycles by a electronic time delay
cube (eight pin) which cycles every 12 minutes for 30 seconds.
The fan will also run when the compressor runs.
BTW have a happy, safe and warm Thanksgiving....=o&o>.....
 
Wow, that's a good idea! Lucky find. I would love to do this, but I am not so good in the soldering department. Initially I attempted to solder the little copper tubes (each about 3" long) together, but I failed miserably in the process and ended up sticking them together with metal duct tape instead, so they are probably not all that good at conducting heat between them. Right now they are just basically thermal inertial mass. Would be GREAT to be able to transfer the heat comign from the tower to a metal plate in the fridge for better cooling. Perhaps one day I will figure out the soldering process better. It may be an equipemtn issue... I don't have a very powerful soldering iron/torch.

Klaus
 
A propane torch is a must unless you have a BC plumbers acetylene bottle and torch to heat a large mass. You need a solid connection to pull off your tower tube heat plus more mass inside the keezer, yes you'll see a difference.
 
A large "Turbo Torch" should handle it with enough heat output, those HD torches are for copper up to 1" or 3/4" if soldering a Tee, kind of weak in output. So called "MAPP" gas bottle for more BTU heating, all depends on the amount of mass your adding to the big tower pipe.
 
Did you get the metal duct tape and insulating rubber tape at Lowes as well? I'm thinking of doing this myself.
 
Yes that is what I did. Lowes is right up the street. I think I got several different kinds of insulation but just ended up using the black insulating tape. A few layers and the copper pipe was quite tightly pushed into the kegerator shaft. I never got around to soldering the thing, but it seems to work quite well with just the duct tape. With a blower installed the copper remains quite cold and the insulation makes it so there is no condensation on the outside at all.
 
Thanks, I actually went to Lowes today and got all the stuff. Hopefully this will solve my foam problem....soon we will see!
 
What pressure and temperature are you using and how long is your beer line? Are you quick carbing it or just setting it at serving pressure and letting it sit for a week or two? I have one that is ridiculously foamy still, but I accidentally massively overcarbed it by trying to force carb it at 35 PSI at room temp. Unfortunately, I did this in my basement where the room temp at the time was 42. After drinking a half keg of foamy beer it is finally starting to tone down. Every batch I have done otherwise has been great... pours well, and actually I have to work to get a head (but then agin, I have almost 10 feet of beer line). I have my pressure set to 12 or 13 and keep the kegerator at 38 degrees.

Klaus
 
I'm setting it at serving pressure, it's been going for about four days so far. It's 14 psi, beer temperature 38 degrees, 2000 feet above sea level. Five feet of beer line. I'm pretty sure it is a cooling issue because the first glass is foamy and the beer is 41 degrees. Every glass after that (as long as it hasn't been >30 minutes since the last glass) is perfect and 38 degrees.
 
Sorry not to get back to this for so long. I assume you are using 3/16" beer line, right? Your method of carbing and serving seems fine. I ended up switching to longer beer lines because I was getting too fast a pour. I initially had 5 foot beer lines and foaming problems at 12 PSI and 38 degrees, (before I built the tower cooler), and I lengthened my beer lines which helped, but it only got to the point where there are no foaming issues after I had both longer beer lines and the tower cooling. You installed a blower as well?

Klaus
 
No worries. I was using 3/16" line. I ended up getting too frustrated at the unit so I sold it. I'm thinking of building a new one out of a chest freezer instead of a mini fridge.
 
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